India’s Tryst with International Criminal Law: Why Delhi Cannot Digest the Roman Pasta?

Abstract

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998 (the statute) establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeks to provide an international criminal law regime to deal with crimes against humanity. Despite the path breaking structure of this statute, India has refrained from being a signatory to it. This paper deals extensively with India’s unhappiness over a universally important and well drafted law like the Rome Statute. This paper debates two major concerns of India with respect to the statute: abuse of referrals by the Security Council and the challenge to its sovereignty. It also features an exhaustive discussion of India’s eagerness to include terrorism and ‘use of nuclear warfare’ as crimes under the statute. Based on an extensive legal research, the author concludes that India must make no further delay in becoming a member nation of thestatute.